Jet

Propulsion

Laboratory

Seeing the invisible

FEBRUARY

VOLUME 46

NUMBER 2

2016

Continued on page 2

Continued on page 2

Several weeks into their orbital mis-

sion, the two JPL instruments on the

Jason 3 satellite have quickly begun

producing valuable data on sea levels

around the globe.

“Initial results look very good,” said

Project Manager Parag Vaze, who

added that the mission team is tuning

calibrations before the satellite transi-

tions into an operational mode, which

is planned for this spring.

Ocean satellite working wellJPL manages Jason 3 and has pro-

vided a microwave radiometer and

GPS receiver for the mission, which

will begin full science operations after

a six-month checkout phase. Jason 3

launched Jan. 17 from Vandenberg Air

Force Base.

Jason 3 will precisely measure the

height of 95 percent of the world’s

ice-free ocean every 10 days. The

mission will improve weather, climate

and ocean forecasts, including helping

NOAA’s National Weather Service and

other global weather and environmen-

tal forecast agencies more accurately

Two JPL instruments are onboard Jason 3

JPL is playing a key role in tracking a major methane leak at the Aliso Can-yon natural gas storage facility north of Los Angeles.

Using infrared cameras, the Environ-mental Defense Fund determined the leak has released 150 million pounds of methane into the environment since its discovery in October. Methane, a greenhouse gas, can be 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trap-ping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere.

NASA aircraft toting JPL’s Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) and Hyper Spectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (HyTES) have been studying the leak. “Methane is invisible but these instruments are able to see the concentrated plumes of strong emission sources,” said JPL researcher Riley Duren.

“The aircraft provide a snapshot of what methane gas plumes look like at a given moment in time,” said Duren. “But to interpret these observations, we employ computer models to re-

construct how the Earth’s atmosphere moves in four dimensions.”

Answers aren’t straightforward. Is there a single plume of methane being

By Mark Whalen

By Mark Whalen

JPL airborne instruments have measured a methane leak at Aliso Canyon.

Environmental disaster tracked by methane detectors

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JASON 3 Continued from page 1

forecast the strength of tropical cy-

clones.

More than 100 JPLers worked on Ja-

son 3, said Vaze. “All of their contribu-

tions were important to our success,”

he said. “Team members brought ex-

pertise from many disciplines at JPL

including instrument engineering, sci-

ence, systems engineering, mission

assurance, ground data systems and

business management.”

Measurements of sea-surface

height, or ocean-surface topogra-

phy, reveal the speed and direction of

ocean currents and tell scientists how

much of the sun’s energy is stored by

the ocean. Combining ocean current

and heat storage data is key to under-

standing global climate changes.

Data from Jason 3 will be used for

other scientific, commercial and op-

erational applications, including mod-

eling of deep-ocean waves; forecasts

of tides and currents for commer-

cial shipping and ship routing; coastal

forecasts to respond to environmental

challenges such as oil spills; coastal

modeling crucial for marine mammal

and coral reef research; and forecasts

of El Niño and La Niña events.

Jason 3 is led by the National Oce-

anic and Atmospheric Administration

(NOAA) in partnership with NASA, the

French space agency and the Europe-

an Organisation for the Exploitation of

Meteorological Satellites.

Original plans called for Jason 3

to launch in 2013, said Vaze, but the

mission endured a number of delays to

work through various programmatic,

launch vehicle procurement and devel-

opment challenges.

“I’m very pleased that our JPL team

was never distracted by the external

factors and did a great job deliver-

ing excellent instruments on plan,” he

said. “The launch of Jason 3 is very

important to JPL and the team since

many of them are continuing forward

toward working on the upcoming Ja-

son-CS/Sentinel-6 and Surface Water

Ocean Topography missions.”

For more information, visit http://

www.nesdis.noaa.gov/jason-3.

released by the damaged well? Are there smaller plumes from other areas around the facility? How much meth-ane is being trapped in the soil and then slowly released?

“The imagery we’re getting from the aircraft is primarily used to help eval-uate the models, and also to under-stand the processes that control the methane release,” said Duren. “So understanding what the source looks like close-up is where the imaging in-struments are important.”

Data produced by JPL will support decision making by local, state and national agencies and other stake-holders that are concerned about mit-igating greenhouse gas emissions, he said.

Duren has been actively involved in a larger emissions study in Southern California. He is principal investigator for the Los Angeles Megacities Carbon Project, an international, interagency project which for two years has over-seen 14 monitoring stations from Vic-torville to San Clemente Island.

Southern California has numerous

methane sources—gas pipelines, landfills, oil fields, wastewater treat-ment facilities, refineries, natural seeps and dairies. It turns out that there is a large landfill and oil field right next to Aliso Canyon, so Duren’s team disen-tangled the methane emissions of the landfill and the oil field from those of the gas storage facility by mapping out an area of about 120 square kilometers around Aliso Canyon.

The Megacities project is funded through 2017. From its post on Mount Wilson, another JPL instrument, the California Laboratory for Atmospheric Remote Sensing, or CLARS, has been scanning the L.A. Basin several times a day since 2011 to measure carbon di-oxide, carbon monoxide and methane, simulating an imaging greenhouse gas instrument on a geostationary satellite. This instrument has also been instru-mental in the Aliso Canyon study.

“The sustained measurements from the tower network and the CLARS measurements on Mount Wilson pro-vide us with a near-continuous history of when the leak started and how it’s evolved over time,” said Duren. He added that special observations by

the Japanese Space Agency’s GOSAT satellite and the EO-1 Hyperion satel-lite were also arranged to study this unprecedented methane source. Data processing, quality control, modeling and interpretation are complex and time-consuming. “Ultimately,” said Du-ren, “the analysis of how much meth-ane was released and validating those results will likely take several months.”

Duren also noted that planning was already underway, before the leak was reported, for JPL to conduct a state-wide methane survey this summer with the AVIRIS and HyTES instruments for the California Air Resources Board and Energy Commission. “We were busy working on the task plan when this Aliso Canyon event started,” he said.

“To the extent that we can assist with remote sensing and apply an integrat-ed systems approach to detect and quantify greenhouse gas emissions across Los Angeles, California, and someday globally, that’s what JPL is contributing to the broader endeavor,” said Duren.

Note: The Southern California Gas Company on Feb. 11 said the well was no longer leaking.

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JPL’s future: efficiency, innovation are key

During the development of JPL’s

2025 strategy, it was recognized that

“how” the Lab accomplishes its work

was just as important as “what” it pro-

duces. Lab leadership wants to ensure

that JPL is world class and leading

edge in its processes and procedures

for getting work done.

Deputy Director Larry James em-

phasized the importance of focusing

on this area.

“Over the last two years, we’ve stood

up the Lab Management Council to

broadly look at processes and inno-

vations across the Lab,” said James.

“There was no one entity doing that,

ensuring that we continually improve

our productivity, efficiencies and work-

ing conditions.”

To move forward in this effort,

JPL recently consolidated the

Operations Management Coun-

cil, responsible for funding JPL

initiatives, with the Laboratory

Management Council, the stra-

tegic arm for JPL operations

oversight. It made sense to com-

bine the two functions, said James.

“We will now have one council that

strategically looks at how we accom-

plish our work,” he said. “This will be

more efficient and allow us to prioritize

and focus on areas that deserve more

support. It is one example of reducing

overhead to get important things done

more quickly.”

One way to achieve best business

practices is to share information on

innovative initiatives across the Lab.

“Right now, we have no simple way

of showing the great, innovative ideas

that are being implemented across

the Lab,” said James. “We’re now

capturing that. If there are multiple

efforts along the same lines, we would

like to align them, or at the very least

provide opportunities to benefit from

each other.”

Management heard from JPLers in

several surveys that they found it diffi-

cult to find other innovative people or

innovative efforts at JPL. James said

this would be addressed by allowing

employees to create “communities of

practice” to spark innovative ideas

focused on how to get their job done

most effectively.

A “ProcessGuru” portal site, which

will debut in the spring, will provide

new avenues to discover innovative

processes and, in turn, work smart-

er. The site will direct users to sub-

ject-matter experts to help develop

ideas and connect like-minded JPLers

at brainstorming meetups, similar to

what’s done in industry and by start-

ups.

“If you’ve got a great idea of how

we do things, first you can look to

JPL Deputy Director Larry James

How the Lab does its work is just as important as what it produces

“If you’ve got a great idea of how we do things, first you can see whether or not

somebody is already looking at this. If not, here’s the chance to post your idea for action.”

JPL Deputy Director Larry James

see whether or not somebody

is already looking at this,” said

James. “If not, here’s the chance

to post your idea for action.

“We want everyone to be con-

tinuously thinking: ‘How can I

do this better?’ or ‘Do I have a

better idea?’,” said James. “We

want to capture and benefit from

the creative ideas that JPLers generate

every day, regardless of how small they

may seem to the idea originator. Many

incremental improvements can lead to

major benefits in reducing complexity

and improving the effectiveness of

what we do. It’s also important from a

strategic perspective. What we do at

JPL is incredible and further enabling

our creativity and innovation across

the Lab will be key to us reaching new

frontiers of exploration.”

Energy from on highOne JPL building now has something

in common with the Opportunity rover on Mars—both are graced with solar panels.

The Project Formulation Building (301) was recently equipped with a grid of 864 solar photovoltaic panels on its roof.

The effort helps JPL meet mandated standards for federally owned facilities to increase their use of renewable energy.

Facilities Energy Manager Steve Rig-don, who said the panels should gen-erate about 285 kilowatts, expects the array installation to be completed by the end of February. This effort could also save the Lab more than $60,000 annually on electricity.

Based on JPL’s typical power usage, the array is expected to deliver a total of about 487,000 kilowatt-hours per year. “To put that in perspective,” Rigdon said, “that’s the equivalent of the annual aver-age amount of electricity consumed by 45 homes.”

These figures are for Building 301 alone. But soon, the Lab plans to expand the energy and cost windfall by placing solar panel arrays on other JPL buildings. The bigger the building, the bigger the savings. The largest available space, the

new parking structure, is the next target. Rigdon said the structure was de-

signed “solar ready,” with pillars already in place. Once installed, the array on the building will generate about 1 megawatt of power. Rigdon expects construction to begin in fiscal year 2017 pending approv-al of construction of facilities funding and could take a year to complete.

Solar provider SunEdison will maintain and operate the new array on Building 301. Through a web-based platform, JPL Facilities will monitor the system’s func-tionality and production, said Rigdon.

The work on 301 adds to JPL’s only other solar solar photovoltaic system, a 30-kilowatt array atop Building 302, in-stalled in 2007.

Installation of solar panels on Building 301’s roof is expected to be completed by the end of February.

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Steltzner named to National AcademyIn recognition of his development of the Mars

Curiosity entry, descent and landing system and for contributions to control of parachute dy-namics, JPL engineer Adam Steltzner has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Steltzner, an engineering Fellow in the Sys-tems Engineering and Formulation Division, is chief engineer for the Mars 2020 project and is also the manager of the Planetary Entry, Descent and Landing and Small Body Access Office.

Election to the National Academy of Engineer-ing is among the highest professional distinc-tions accorded to an engineer.

Lab will contribute to six cubesat missionsThe first flight of NASA’s new rocket, the

Space Launch System, will carry 13 low-cost cubesats to test innovative ideas along with an uncrewed Orion spacecraft in 2018. Six of these cubesat missions have contributions from JPL.

JPL is providing telecommunications and Deep Space Network support for Lunar IceCube,

News

Briefs

Adam Steltzner

which will search for water ice and other resourc-es from 62 miles above the surface of the moon. The principal investigator is also based at JPL.

Near-Earth Asteroid Scout will perform re-connaissance of an asteroid, take pictures and observe its position in space. JPL will build and deliver the spacecraft, and the principal investi-gator is based at JPL.

JPL will provide telecommunications and DSN support for BioSentinel, which will use yeast to detect, measure and compare the impact of deep-space radiation on living organisms over long durations in deep space.

JPL will manage Lunar Flashlight, which will look for ice deposits and identify locations where resources may be extracted from the lunar sur-face. The project manager is based at JPL.

The Lab will provide telecommunications and DSN support for CubeSat to study Solar Par-ticles, or CuSP, a “space weather station” to measure particles and magnetic fields in space, and LunaH-Map, which will map hydrogen within craters and other permanently shadowed regions throughout the moon’s south pole.

Happy birthday, Ed!

In January, JPLers gathered in Pickering Auditorium to observe the 30th anniversary of Voyager 2’s flyby of Uranus while bidding a happy 80th birthday to Voyager project scientist and former JPL Director Ed Stone.

L etters

My family and I would like to thank my JPL colleagues and friends for their kind words and thoughts over the passing of my 98-year-old father. Your condolences, good wishes and flow-ers bought us great peace and comfort, and are greatly appreciated.Steven Bard

My family and I would like to thank my co-work-ers and the JPL community for their support over the long months of illness and subsequent death of my wife, Cathy Ryne. Your compassion, thoughts, condolences and generous support have brought us comfort and are greatly appre-ciated. Mark Ryne

I would like to thank my JPL coworkers for their support during the recent passing of my mother. Thank you for the lovely plant and your support during this difficult time. Michael Sierchio

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collection. He retired in 1991.Rowe is survived by his daughter, Dana Spoone-

row; son Scott; grandsons Tyler and Casey; and great-grandson Ryder.

A memorial will be held March 12 at 3 p.m. at Matt Denny’s Ale House in Arcadia. Those wishing to attend are asked to contact his daughter Dana at dspoonerow@gmail.com.

William Rowe

William “Billy Joe” Rowe, 86, a retired photographer, died Jan. 13.

Rowe joined JPL in 1952 and worked as a mo-tion-picture editor and photographer for every JPL project from Corporal to Galileo as well as the Deep Space Network. Rowe also documented and archived JPL’s early motion picture

Richard McKay, 88, a retired technologist, died Dec. 6.

McKay joined JPL in 1959 and retired in 1992. His work led to improved propellant for the space shuttle’s solid rocket motor boosters and the Delta rockets that powered the Spirit and Oppor-tunity rovers to Mars. He also earned a NASA In-ventions and Contributions Award for an efficient multi-load temperature control system.

McKay is survived by brothers Nevin, Lawrence and Paul, and sister Eleanor Corley.

George Born, 76, a retired engineer and manager, died Jan. 21.

Born, who worked at JPL in the 1970s and early 1980s, was instrumental in JPL’s early ocean altim-etry missions, serving as geophysical evaluation manager for Seasat. He also contributed to Topex/Poseidon, Mariner 9 and Viking, and supervised the Precision Orbit Determination Group.

Born is survived by his wife, Carol, and son Brett. A memorial was held Jan. 24 in Boulder.

Editor

Mark Whalen

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